


Without Granting Innocence

by BabylonsFall



Series: Prompts [4]
Category: The Librarians (TV 2014)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Case Fic, For All Of Them, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Kinda anyway, Team Bonding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-02
Updated: 2017-09-02
Packaged: 2018-12-22 20:58:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,978
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11974896
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BabylonsFall/pseuds/BabylonsFall
Summary: Ezekiel throws himself, quite literally, into the line of fire. Again. Literally. Eve just wants the chance to do her job, and do it right.(Or, the start of a very serious conversation about Ezekiel's self-sacrificing tendencies.)





	Without Granting Innocence

**Author's Note:**

> So I was given this prompt: _could you do something about ezekiel doing something self sacrificing to save one of the team and getting hurt and the rest of the team being fed up of his self sacrificing shenanigans try to talk to him about it_
> 
> ...and this is the result! It went more Eve and Ezekiel rather than team and Ezekiel, and it kinda got away from me, but I like how it turned out, and I hope you do too!

“...-e can’t keep doing this! His luck is only going to run so far!” The voice off to his right was loud. Loud, yet… muffled. He could hear the words. Get a relative idea on the volume. But the actual voice sounded muddied, slurred, smeared together until he couldn’t tell who it actually was.

Why were they shouting anyway?

His head was pounding something awful, his eyes steadfastly refusing to open for the moment - which was probably for the best. What little light he could pick out already was way too bright - and his entire upper body throbbed. And, now that he was actually focusing on it, breathing was a bad idea, burning down a too-dry throat and rasping back out.

He tried to move, he really did. All he really managed to do with shift a little, enough to set his side screaming, even through the general ache of the rest of him. His breathing hissed out and he did his best to go still again. Alright then. Moving wasn’t an option for a little while.

“-ow did this even happen?” And more shouting. He still couldn’t figure out who or why though.

Last thing he remembered, they’d been in Scotland, poking around a newly discovered tomb (or… what had Jacob called it. Passage grave? Earth, stones, multiple rooms. Fascinating stuff. Kinda. Not really.)

...Wait, no. That was… a couple days ago at least. Because he also remembered meeting the excavation crew that had found the place, led by a wiry old man who’d creeped him out (eyes a little too sharp, grin a little too wide and fake, and he reminded him of some of his old teachers, back in primary school) - which meant he left the questioning to Eve while he’d snuck off to poke around the tomb a bit more.

Why had they been there at all?

...The Clippings Book! It had thrown its usual tantrum, given them something about tourists and workers disappearing at the site at an alarming rate and sent them off without much else.

So. Scotland. Grave site. Creepy professor.

And now he was… where?

Apparently, this long after waking up, his senses decided to come back into focus. And he really wished they hadn’t. Bleach and antiseptic was not a good smell to help with a headache. But, it did let him know where he was - a hospital. Things started slowly filtering back in, after that; the steady, low beeps and whirs of whatever machines he was hooked up to, the consistent rise and fall of voices outside his room. And that smell.

He heard the door open - ...that might actually be why the shouting was muffled then, if everyone was outside the room. Good to know - and close, someone shuffling over beside his bed and dropping down with a heavy sigh.

And that. That he recognized.

“...you wouldn’t fall for it if I pretended to stay asleep, would you?” he croaked out.

“Nope.” Eve didn’t sound good, tone clipped and hard like she normally only got when things were really, really bad. He cracked an eye just barely to get a look at her, but, just like he thought, the lights were way too bright. He could make out enough to see that Eve was sitting beside him, but that was about it, so, in deference to his headache, he let his eye slip closed again.

“...we win?” he asked after the silence stretched on longer than he was really comfortable with. Eve shifted, letting out another one of those sighs that curled his stomach.

“We did. The Adder Stone is in the Library. The professor is in a holding cell.”

“And yet, you don’t sound happy.” He was trying to teasing. Pretty sure it was ruined by the coughing fit. Eve didn’t say anything, just grabbing water from… somewhere (he’d have to open his eyes eventually. It just sounded like a really bad idea right now) and helping him take a drink once the coughing stopped.

“Three guesses as to why.” Was all she offered, after a long, tense moment.

Ezekiel groaned, deciding that this conversation - wherever it was going - needed to be had sitting up at the very least.

Apparently, she wasn’t too mad at him as, after a couple moments of what he was sure was very competent flailing (trying to avoid putting pressure on his side… and his body in general did not make it easy to sit up. Go figure) she helped him up, rearranging the pillows behind him to help keep him up.

Opening his eyes went a little better this time around. Shapes came into focus at least after a couple blinks. Now, he could not only see Eve sitting beside him, but he could see her pinched expression, the bags under her eyes, and her arms crossed over her chest.

So, not really an improvement.

“...Did we break the Stone?” And that’s a glare, so no. “I know we broke the grave.” Memories were slowly filtering back in, and, yeah, he was pretty sure all that was left of the place was churned earth and cracked stone. But that didn’t get a response. “You didn’t get to punch anyone?”

He was pretty sure she mumbled ‘oh I punched somebody alright,’ but, that was probably his imagination as she shook her head and reached over to lightly poke at his side. His hissed as that flared up, trying to bat her hand away.

So he got shot- ...Oh. Right. He got shot.

It had made sense at the time honestly - Eve had been closer to the Adder Stone, on its pedestal in the center of the grave, while Ezekiel had been closer to the professor. The man had been convinced that the Stone would grant him the powers of the Fae - had been searching most of his life for it in fact - and had reached that point in his obsession where anyone standing in his way needed to be dealt with. As harshly as possible. Just their luck, he’d chosen a gun, and seemed to actually have a pretty good eye with it, if the bullet hole in the wall besides Eve’s head had been anything to go by. Nevermind that the place had been crashing down around them - the result of explosives from his work crew, meant to go off after he’d gotten out with the Stone but apparently they’d screwed with his timing.

If Ezekiel had been able to get the gun on him, he’d had no doubt Eve would be able to take the guy down in a blink. And on top of that - even if Eve wouldn’t be able to get to the guy before he actually fired, she still had an opening to get the artifact and take down the bad guy - which was their job, right?. He just needed to get her that opening. So he’d done the best thing - he thought - and gone straight for the professor. It worked. He’d turned, Eve had moved, and the crack of the gunshot had been loud even in the rumble and groaning of the earth above and around them.

_(He hadn’t seen Eve’s face. Hadn’t seen the blood drain from her face as she watched one of her own drop to the floor like a pile of rocks. Hadn’t seen her fist connect with the professor’s jaw in the next moment. Hadn’t heard her cursing up a blue streak that he would’ve found funny, at any other point, and if it hadn’t been cut through with angry pleas for him to stay awake, because he was already out by the time he hit the floor, red staining the front of his shirt. She’d been a Fury, blazing and angry and righteous, and he’d missed it._

_And if she had her way, he’d never see it. Because this was not happening again-)_

There were a million things she wanted to say, as she watched him. He could see each and every one pass over her face, even if he couldn’t actually decipher what most of them were.

“...Why.” She didn’t phrase it like a question, though Ezekiel was pretty sure it was one. One he knew answer to surprisingly. This was his job - they’d finally drilled that into him - recover artifacts, get the bad guys, keep magic out of the hands of people who would use it for evil. He’d done his job, and, in doing so, had gotten the immediate danger away from Eve (which, in his mind, was far more important).

She held up a hand when he opened his mouth to answer. “No, Jones. Why? Why do you insist on making my job that much harder?” That wasn’t the question she’d wanted to ask, he knew. It fell too stiffly from her lips, too jagged and harsh. But it was the one she asked.

And this one. This one, he didn’t know the answer to. Because the question made no sense. He did his job. She did hers. Sounds like everything turned out okay, being slightly more closely related to swiss cheese now notwithstanding.

“...So you’re saying you wanted to get shot?” He knew his tone was petulant, accusing. He didn’t feel that way, not really. But he didn’t know what she wanted.

“How about neither of us get shot?” She leaned forward in her chair, elbows resting on her knees, and Ezekiel did his best not to wince at the low slope of her shoulders, the tired look on her face. “My job is to keep you safe. That’s not… it’s not always going to be perfect. Especially not with four of you running around. This world is dangerous. Fine. But you… you keep jumping in the way. Before I - before we, as a team - can even start to plan a way out.”

That wasn’t fair. Sure he was… a little impulsive? Maybe? But that didn’t mean she couldn’t do her jo-

“DARPA. Werewolves. Sesselman. And now, Fae-obsessed professors. They weren’t all you,” her voice got a little louder there, her head tilting back towards the door. Which meant everyone else was there, listening. The thought… wasn’t pleasant and yet it was, and he ended up curling up slightly on the bed, not liking the mix, “but you’re the one that keeps almost dying, Ezekiel.”

“...I did my job.” and back to the petulant. He really didn’t feel like that - but what he was feeling was thrown off kilter. He’d just figured out how to make this job work for him, how to throw his all into it and Eve… didn’t like that. What was he supposed to do?

She paused, just watching him for a moment before her gaze went soft, her look understanding and far more focused than he was really comfortable with. She wasn’t smiling, not yet, but he could see it in the quirk of her lips that it was a near thing. “I know. Now let me do mine.” She pushed herself to her feet, reaching over to squeeze his hand before heading for the door again. When she opened it, Jacob, Cassandra and Flynn only just managed to keep their footing, as if they’d been leaning on the door.

“Are you alright-”

“The hell were you thinking Jones-”

“We definitely weren’t eavesdropping-”

“Hospital, guys. Keep your voices down.” Eve snapped, rolling her eyes and shooting Ezekiel a ‘what’re you going to do?’ look. Ezekiel snorted, then winced as that pulled at his side, relaxing back into his pillows as he was bombarded on all sides by the other Librarians. He knew his conversation with Eve wasn’t even close to being over, and he still felt wrong-footed by the whole thing. But, and this was both comforting and terrifying, in equal measure, he knew Eve would help get him back on track, eventually.

She was his Guardian, after all.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Feedback is always appreciated, and feel free to come say hi on [ tumblr](https://distinctivelibrarians.tumblr.com)
> 
> Also, I know there's already a violence tag, but if you feel there should be a more descriptive tag or warning, please let me know!
> 
> (title is from How to Save a Life by the Fray)


End file.
